Wednesday, October 21, 2009

No wind when I got home tonight, so took my little yellow plane out flying. Went to a football field across the street. A WIDE open football field. With two goal posts. Of course in all this HUGE, WIDE OPEN SPACE, I flew the plane directly into one of the goal posts. Goal posts, I learned, have a tendency to NOT move when hit by little, plastic planes. The plane moved, however, in about a thousand different directions. Glued the thousand pieces back together. And tried to get one more flight in for the night. Didn't notice that the wind had picked-up. IT FLEW!!! And it kept flying. Away. Far, far away. I lost sight of it. It's gone. I don't think this will be a case of "Lassie Come Home." It probably doesn't remember where I live. Hell I don't even remember where I live half the time.

One would be assuming incorrectly - this WAS a radio-controlled device. Or a least it was SUPPOSED to be. Operator error. And no, I can't quit until this obsession has run its course. (It's a hell of a lot of fun!)

I can see it now, "Hi, my name's Rick, I'm a plane-oholic. This is my first P.A. meeting."

So who cares ...

I'm an artist, so a bit off-center. My latest hobby is one from my childhood: model airplanes. But as boys get bigger, so do their toys, these are radio controlled. Some are smaller, some are are pretty darn big. But there are REALLY big ones available - I want those, of course. If you're ever looking for me, I'm either downstairs rebuilding planes or out at some field flying (or wrecking) them.
I've been plagued since birth by an imaginary villain I refer to as the Crazee Magnet. These are the chronicles of the Crazee Magnet and a look inside my extremely screwed-up way of looking at life.

My RC Fleet

These are always in a constant state of repair/disrepair. So there are only two or three flying at any one time.

E-flite Carbon-Z Yak 54

My absolute favorite plane to fly.

Great Planes Reactor Bipe .61

Been building this for a year. Saito 125 with Pitts smoke muffler. Should be sweet. Long, chunky biplane 58 inches long, 48 inch wingspan.

E-flite Pitts Model 12 15e

Gorgeous plane. First "real" plane I ever bought.

Hangar 9 P-51 PTS

This is a BEAUTIFUL, easy to fly plane. Wingspan is just shy of 5 feet so it has a real prescence on the field. My favorite nitro plane.

Great Planes Shoestring

Throwback to the older days of racers. GORGEOUS, foam with sheeting wings and fiberglass fuselage. Got an electric motor in it (Skorpion) big enough to power my KIA! Not ready to fly this one yet. Taking my time on the build.

Great Planes Combat Corsair

Still under construction.

Hangar 9 Twist

Old trim scheme - MUCH better than the new one below. I have both though.

Hangar 9 Twist

New trim scheme. Boring.

E-flite F-15 Eagle

My first jet. Under construction. Retractable landing gear are WAY COOL, but are driving me nuts trying to set them up! Twin EDF motors scare our dogs. Scare me too!

LA Racer

If I ever get this plane finished and can learn to keep the plane above ground, I'll be flying this one as a pylon racer. Will have Thunder Tiger Pro .40 up front.

E-flite P-40 Warkhawk

This tiny plane is a BLAST! With only a 25" wing span and 21" in length, I can fly it across the street at the park. It's fun doing imaginary strafing runs on trash cans and other such targets of evil.

Zlin 40

Under construction. Will have OS 55 up front.

Parkzone P-51, modified

Awesome foamie! I've replaced the motor with a Power 10, 40 amp esc and 2200mAh 3s. It moves.

Parkzone F4U Corsair

Constantly flying and breaking this beautiful foam bird.

Parkzone T28 480 size and UMX

Have both of these. I did most of my newbie training on the larger one. EASY plane to fly.

Great Planes Extra 330SC

SUPER FUN to fly!!! Unfortunately, I flew it into the ground. It not fly no mo.

Electrifly Yak 54

Flew great until the manufacturer's crappy clevises failed. Boom. It's a mess.

Parkzone Edge 300

Ooops. This one hit a goal post. The goal post didn't move. The plane did. In about 6 different directions. Gone, probably won't be replaced. Pretty squirrelly plane to fly.